Astral Projection was the supernatural occurrence wherein the consciousness of being who's in a state of slumber or comatose, left their body, into an "astral body" where they could travel into the real world or in different planes of existence, throughout time and space.

Contents

Astral Projecting

Achieving Astral Projection

A number of reasons could cause astral projection, though most cases often involved the user being subjected to violent trauma or injury [1][2][3] along with external factors such as the influence of a Hellmouth,[1]The Powers That Be,[4] mystical substances[3] or a curse.[5] Magical practitioners could also voluntarily achieve astral projection via spells.[6][7]

Astral bodies

A book passage on Astral Projection

Astral bodies were capable of traveling into people's memories,[3] their dream space,[5] the real world where they could interact with the environment[1][4] or into the "astral plane". According to Skip, when most people went 'astral', their astral body would often manifest as an idealized version of themselves.[2] Though this didn't seem to be the case with Cordelia Chase when she first astral projected on her birthday, but possibly so when she went out of her coma two years later since Wesley Wyndam-Pryce thought she looked "really hot' despite her ordeal.[4]

The Astral Plane

The astral plane seemed to reside alongside but separately from the physical plane, allowing any astral bodies to witness real world events but remain incapable of interacting with the physical world as well as being noticed by physical elements, though, they were able to possess people's bodies in order to do so.[2]

Instances of Astral Projection

In Sunnydale 1997, Billy Palmer manifested as an astral body after he was beaten into a coma. Along with his consciousness, the nightmares of the people of Sunnydale manifested in reality.[1]

During her 21st birthday, Cordelia Chase entered the astral plane after a vision caused her to be knocked unconscious. During her time as an astral body, she was unable to be seen or heard and was rendered intangible, but could communicate by possessingAngel. Her astral body then taken by Ship who showed her what life could be like if she never joined Angel Investigations. She was eventually returned to her body when she decided to became part demon.[2]

In Los Angeles 2003, after dosing herself and Angelus with the mystical drug known as orpheus, Faith Lehane and the said vampire entered a mystical walk in Angel's mind, witnessing past events in his life. During these trials, they were unable to interact with any of the scenery and this period took a close when Angelus began to fight Angel, cumulating to the point Angel's soul was restored.[3]

A year later, the comatose Cordelia again became an astral body and used her last day on earth to assist Angel and his team in preventing Wolfram & Hart'sfailsafe being released by Lindsey McDonald. This time, Cordelia's astral body could interact with the world but confirmed dead after her time was up.[4]

When Amy Madison placed a magical curse on Buffy Summers whilst she was sleeping, preventing her from awakening until she was kissed by someone who loved her, Buffy astral projected into her dream space, consisting of all her thoughts, feelings, memories and dreams where she was guided by Ethan Rayne.[5]

Willow took a mystical walk on an astral plane, a tradition for witches. The features of this journey were largely based on Willow's own subconscious.[7]